This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, click the "Reprints" link at the bottom of any article.

January 14, 2011

Wall Street's Top 10 Richest Executives Worth Average $210 Million Each

Wealth-X, which compiled the data, sees opportunities for advisors in financial HNW arena

According to a study released Thursday by Wealth-X, which collects and analyzes information on high-net-worth (HNW) individuals, the top 10 executives on Wall Street average $210 million each in net worth, and are worth a combined $2.1 billion.

If you’re thinking of wooing the likes of Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein—two of the top 10—as clients, Wealth-X says that you’re on the right track. Wall Streeters, it says, are poised to become much richer as bonuses raise their bank accounts and as financial stocks rise to projected stratospheric levels. Not just bankers, but traders and investment bankers, according to the company, are expected to see their incomes increase exponentially. One factor in this rosy vision of the future is the execs’ holdings in out-of-the-money bank stocks, which the company says will be worth serious money again if financial institutions continue their upward climb.

While the company didn’t provide a ranking in order of net worth, they did provide the names of the top 10 Wall Street HNW executives.

Wealth-X arrived at its estimates of these men’s net worth by including shares and options in their publicly traded banks, residential and commercial property, art collections, cash and other investible assets. The company adds that their average liquid net worth is around $75 million.

Mykolas Rambus, Wealth-X CEO, said in a statement, “Despite the ongoing public relations battle between Wall Street and Main Street, private wealth managers need to continue to focus on financial executives in the coming months.” He added, “These executives have large, concentrated stock positions. As a result, wealth advisors will need deep insight into the challenges their portfolios represent.”

In a statement, Matthew Miller, chief research officer for Wealth-X and former global wealth editor at Forbes, quoted an unidentified wealth manager focused on financial executives as saying that many such “CEOs could see their net worth double in the next year.”

The manager, who he said requested anonymity because of the clients he represented, added, “So long as the economy doesn’t fall off another cliff, I think there are a lot of opportunities out there for advisors looking to land big clients.”